And, when we moved to Maine eight years ago, I discovered that the local NPR channel did not carry Diane Rhem. AND, that the local NPR channel carried CLASSICAL MUSIC all morning.

Mercy! What was I going to do!

The solution at that time was getting a subscription to Sirius/XM Satellite Radio, which had multiple NPR channels and all kinds of other political and news channels. I found that I rarely listened to anything but NPR, however, so the hundreds of channels were pretty much wasted on me, especially as I did not like the music on the Sirius/XM’s music channels either.

After hooking up the Sirius radio and stringing the receiver through my underground quilt room window, I spent many hours trying to find the sweet spot where I could get uninterrupted reception. That actually took months as it was totally counterintuitive that the spot would be at the back of the house which, itself, backs up to a steep hill and forest.

After only a few years, the speakers in the portable radio blew out. But, I soldiered on. Buying a new radio was around $200. And, the yearly bill for Sirius/XM runs about $170, once you add in their tacked on “music royalty” fee.

Then, last month, Sirius/XM DROPPED one NPR channel and stopped all the A-level programs, like Diane Rehm, on the other. What remained was so NOT what I wanted to hear.

I was furious!

I realized Sirius/XM was probably in serious financial trouble.

What was I going to do?

Giovanna McCarthy came to the rescue. Get an “internet” radio. Better yet, she wrote after doing some research on my behalf, get an IPod Touch, and you can put your music on that as well.

Let’s back up to the music thing. Back in the 1980s, I made a whole lot of tapes with music that I dearly love. Tapes, folks, not CDs. These tapes are now brittle, worn, have bad sound, and so forth. But, not long ago–while peeling all the garlic actually–I popped in one of these tapes, turned it all the way up, and sang my way through a tedious job.

I realized I wanted my music back. And I knew that I’d be able to hear fine with ear phones. (I have VERY serious hearing aids and VERY serious hearing loss–as does my middle sister. We think it may have been drugs taken as children or some chemical contamination on various Air Force bases.)

The Ipod Touch, with it’s Cloud feature and it’s Itunes, would let me get the music back and store it reasonable.

AND, it downloads CDs you already own, too!

I ordered it. And, ordered a portable speaker with a docking station for the quilt room.

I had a frustrating few days as I tried to climb over the technical hurdles. After all, I’m several generations behind all this new technology. But, I have the system up and running, and I’m listening to Diane Rehm and all of NPR, and so much more. I can even listen whenever I want–not just on the broadcasting schedule! It even carries Facebook and my email. I’m sure I have only “touched” the surface of what all it will do.

I’m slowly finding, on Itunes, my lost music. Most of it, anyway. So far I’ve only replaced one tape. There are some old songs that have not made it into CD form that are now lost to me except on Utube: Lacy J. Dalton’s “China Doll,” “Golden Memories,” and “Ain’t Nobody Who Could Do It Like My Daddy Could”; Tom T. Hall’s “Over the Rainbow,” and David Frizzel and Shelly West’s “Two Sides.” Lost, in this age of archiving everything…

But, this morning, I downloaded and stored three of my favorite CDs–which I never listen to since the player is upstairs and I am, often, downstairs in the quilt room.

5 Responses

I feel bad for loving an object as much as I love my ipod touch. There is an app for everything! I recently got an astronomy app that tells me which constellation I am looking at – how cool is that? I bet you would love the ipad too.

Have you discovered podcasts yet? I love the Radiolab podcast and This American Life is often good too.